Andrew Stiles of the Washington Free Beacon highlights an interesting development in Virginia politics.
Jay Jones made history … as the first person to be elected attorney general of Virginia after fantasizing about murdering a political opponent’s children and urinating on Republicans’ graves. So it makes sense that Jones would seek the counsel of another Virginia politician who knows what it takes to overcome a scandal involving moral depravity. (Step 1: Refuse to step down. Step 2: Be a Democrat.)
Jones announced Thursday that former Gov. Ralph Northam (D., Va.) was among the “distinguished and experienced leaders” who would serve as co-chairs of his “Standing Up for Virginians” transition team. Northam is best known for surviving a racism scandal that prompted widespread, bipartisan calls for his resignation.
In February 2019, barely a year after he was sworn in as governor, a Washington Free Beacon alumnus stumbled upon Northam’s page in the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. The page included a photo of a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit standing next to a man wearing blackface. Northam’s initial response was not especially competent or compelling. After apologizing for his “decision … to appear” in the “clearly racist and offensive” photograph, he held a press conference and denied appearing in the photo. Northam then acknowledged having “darkened [his] face” with shoe polish “as part of a Michael Jackson costume,” and nearly demonstrated his dance moves before his wife intervened.
Subsequent reporting uncovered Northam’s yearbook page from the Virginia Military Institute, which listed one of his nicknames as “Coonman,” an antiquated racial slur. The governor admitted that some people did refer to him as “Coonman,” but claimed he didn’t know why. Northam’s Democratic colleagues in Virginia were nearly unanimously in demanding his resignation. These calls were echoed by major national figures and groups, including Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic Governors Association, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and every candidate running in the 2020 Democratic primary.
